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First thought   

“The work of righteousness will be peace, and the effect of righteousness, quietness and assurance forever.” Isaiah: 32:17                 

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WHA 2007: Rational Use of Medicines resolution is passed

The hard work, dedication and commitment put in by among others, the Ecumenical Pharmaceutical Network (EPN) delegation which represented the voice of the church to the World Health Assembly (WHA) 2007, paid off handsomely when the Rational Use of Medicines (RUM) resolution was passed.

EPN’s activities to advocate the delegates of the WHA to pass the resolution started in earnest before the meeting which was held in Geneva from 14th – 23rd May 2007. In collaboration with Health Action International - Africa (HAI-A), the Network developed a document for the delegates appealing to them to strengthen and support the resolution. The document highlighted facts on RUM, the benefits of strengthening the resolution and gave specific areas in need of input from the member states.

During the WHA the EPN coordinator, through her presentation titled ‘Churches advocating for rational use of medicines,’ not only urged WHA member delegates to pass the resolution but she also highlighted the importance of the involvement of multi-disciplinary bodies in addressing rational use of medicines at country level.  She emphasized the important role played by faith-based Drug Supply Organizations in the supply of medicines. Through the DSOs and its members, EPN committed itself to working closely with and supporting the national bodies to implement national plans of action at and within its member institutions to ensure rational use of medicines.

The coordinator, board chairperson, a former board member and the winner of the promoting rational use of medicines essay-writing competition, Dr. Sujith Chandy made up the EPN delegation. Dr. Chandy termed the experience a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and was glad to have participated at the assembly. He commended EPN for the “extremely commendable job” it was doing to not only promote RUM, but also in raising awareness in issues on quality assurance, drug manufacturing, pharmacovigilance and intellectual property rights. Both the EPN/HAI-A document and the coordinator’s presentation are available on the EPN website- www.epnetwork.org

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Access to medicines meeting held in London

EPN was represented at the Access to Medicines meeting by the HIV/AIDS Programme officer and the coordinator. The meeting organized by DFID and The LANCET was held in London on 19th April 2006. From this meeting, EPN noted the following key things in relation to its activities in access to medicines:

It is important to support in-country supply chain systems as they play an important role in ensuring sustainability of access to medicines.

The parallel approach of focusing supply chains to only one item needs to change. The focus on one disease needs to be seen as an entry point in improving a health system and not only for the intervention of a specific disease such as TB, Malaria, HIV/AIDS.

EPN members and institutions involved in access to medicines need to build networks and enhance information sharing to prevent replication of projects and programmes in access to essential medicines.

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Medicines Transparency Alliance (MeTA) follow-up

The March 2007 edition of the Netlink newsletter reported on the first meeting of the Medicines Transparency Alliance (MeTA) which was held in February 2007 and attended by the EPN HIV/AIDS Programme Officer. A follow-up meeting was held on 18th April 2007 in London. The participants at this meeting raised the following concerns regarding the alliance:

• There is need to have a clear objective that MeTA needs to fulfill.
• There is need to think of the best way for MeTA to be packaged so that governments can take ownership of the alliance within different countries.
• There is need for a long term commitment on funding for the alliance.
• The pilot countries to be used when setting up the alliance need to be clearly monitored in order to document best practices and lessons learnt.

For EPN, it is important that the Network is involved in monitoring the implementation of the alliance’s activities. The Drug Supply Organizations who are members of the Network need to be informed of the alliance’s formation so that they can give their input.

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Setting up observatories for HIV/AIDS commodities

On 25th June 2007 in Durban, South Africa a meeting was held to discuss the setting up of observatories to handle the disparities of HIV/AIDS commodities particularly in the pricing of antiretroviral (ARV) medicines. EPN was represented at the meeting by Ruth Njoroge of MEDS.

In addition to ensuring that Drug Supply Organizations (DSO) purchase medicines at competitive prices, the observatories will also consider the quality of commodities, the registration status of commodities in different countries, lead times and supplier reliability.

EPN hopes to remain an active player in the development of the observatories, and participate in advocating for the use of a central data source that countries can tap into when making procurement decisions. The data source, set up by WHO, is seldom used particularly by African countries.

The World Health Organization (WHO) in collaboration with the Health Economics and HIV/AIDS Research (HEARD), a division of the University of Kwa Zulu Natal, supported by SIDA, organized the meeting.

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Considerations for evaluating the impact of PEPFAR

On 30th – 1st April 2007, the EPN HIV/AIDS programme officer attended a workshop in Washington D.C. organized to discuss design considerations on the evaluation of PEPFAR. The workshop which was organized by the Institute of Medicines (IOM) was of importance to EPN due to some Network members’ involvement in the implementation of PEPFAR’s Supply Chain Management System’s (SCMS) in Africa. From the meeting, the participants commented that:

• There is a need for PEPFAR to be a learning programme
• PEPFAR needs to harmonize its activities with other HIV/AIDS global players
• The countries that PEPFAR intends to implement the SCMS in need to be brought on board during the design of the implementation process
• There is need for PEPFAR to shift from being an emergency programme to a long term programme
• The performance indicators to be used in gauging the impact of PEPFAR need to be agreed on by all the stakeholders

In addition to the above, EPN needs to monitor PEPFAR activities very closely at country level and give motivation to EPN country focal points to contribute to the ongoing discussions on implementation of the SCMS in Africa. The individual countries also need to develop performance and impact indicators with which to evaluate the system.

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HIV/AIDS treatment literacy discussions with theological students

On 26th April 2007, the HIV/AIDS Programme officer held discussions on HIV/AIDS treatment literacy with theological students at the St. Paul’s University in Limuru, Kenya. Since 2006, these discussions have become a regular activity for EPN. During the discussions, the students, who were mainly in their final year of study, were imparted with basic knowledge on their role as church leaders in HIV/AIDS treatment within the community.

After the session, the students commented that they felt better equipped to offer HIV/AIDS treatment support. They also said that their registration for the HIV/AIDS course was well worth it!

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CHAK’s Annual Health Conference and Annual General Meeting

The Christian Health Association of Kenya (CHAK) held its annual health conference and general meeting from 17th – 19th April at the Jumuia Conference centre in Limuru, Kenya. Key issues discussed at the conference included strategies for staff retention and motivation in church health facilities and the development and implementation of HIV/AIDS workplace policies.

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Drug Supply Organizations’ meeting scheduled in Nigeria

The 2004 Multi-Country Study for faith-based drug supply organizations (DSOs) conducted by EPN in collaboration with WHO showed that DSOs customers were generally pleased with the services provided. However the study also identified areas that are in need of improvement. They are: quality assurance, training, distribution and delivery services, procurement, storage and drug management capacity, sustainability of DSO operations and collaboration.

Recently, the EPN secretariat commissioned a study on drug distribution and delivery to be conducted in ten DSOs in Cameroon, DRC, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Nigeria, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia. The study was completed in June 2007 and a summary of the findings and recommendations compiled into a report. The report has been sent to the participating DSOs and Network members and can be accessed from the EPN website on:

DSO Distribution Study Report. A meeting to discuss the findings and the recommendations of this report will take place from 13th – 17th August 2007 in Nigeria.

Other studies that are currently underway are the quality control and local production study and the software options study. Details of these studies will be made available in subsequent editions of Netlink.

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